Liam Lawson has admitted to being “mentally drained” after the opening three rounds of the new F1 season.
The drivers have been getting up to speed with the new cars this year, which are creating a much different challenge compared to their predecessors.
Energy harvesting and deployment now play a major role when extracting speed during qualifying and overtaking a rival during a race.
It has generated various complaints from a number of drivers and the scale of the learning curve has not been lost on Lawson.
“I’m a little bit mentally drained,” the New Zealander told F1. “It’s very intense this year.
“You have a lot more that you’re thinking about when you’re driving.”
Lawson has enjoyed a strong start to the campaign, scoring a duo of seventh-place finishes in China, which hosted a sprint race alongside the grand prix.
The 24-year-old followed up with another top 10 finish last Sunday in Japan, lifting himself into the top 10 in the drivers’ standings.
However, Lawson has acknowledged that he got lucky with the timing of a safety car en route to the points.
“It was actually quite a tough race,” he reflected.
“We definitely got lucky with the safety car, so I don’t think we would have been in the points without it.
“Very thankful for that. There’ll be ones later for that.”
